In these pages I give to the public, for what they are worth, my own personal impressions of the people and things I saw and with whom I came into contact. I hope I have revealed the late Colonel Best-Dunkley to the public just as he was--as he appeared to me and as he appeared to others. I believe that in this I am doing right. "Paint me in my true colours!" exclaimed Cromwell to Lely. That is all that any hero--and Best-Dunkley was certainly a hero--can conscientiously ask. And I am sure it was all Best-Dunkley himself would ever have asked. He was a brilliant young man, endowed with a remarkable personality. It is right that his memory should be preserved; and if his memory is to be preserved it must be the memory of the Best-Dunkley we knew. The battalion which Best-Dunkley commanded has, since his death, achieved great things and acquired great fame under the still more brilliant leadership of his successor, Colonel Brighten; but we must never forget that it was Best-Dunkley who led it on the glorious day of Ypres and that it was the tradition which he inspired which has been one of the strongest elements of esprit de corps in the 2/5th Lancashire Fusiliers. All who served under Best-Dunkley remember the fact with a certain amount of pride, however unfavourably his personality may have impressed itself upon them at the time--for "All times are good when old!" I am fully aware of the many imperfections of this book; but if it succeeds at all in vividly recalling to those who were in the Ypres Salient in 1917 the atmosphere of that time, and if it should encourage others to risk a similar venture, I shall feel amply rewarded. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE FOREWORD vii I OFF TO THE FRONT 1 II THE PRISON 26 III ENTER BEST-DUNKLEY 49 IV MILLAIN 57 V THE MARCH 63 VI THE GENERAL'S SPEECH 77 VII THE VALE OF ACQUIN 81 VIII BACK TO THE SALIENT 103 IX BILGE TRENCH 113 X THE RAMPARTS 128 XI MUSTARD OIL 136 XII THE CITY AND THE TRENCHES 146 XIII RELIEF 164 XIV WATOU 168 XV THE DAYS BEFORE 179